NC will pay $320,000 over ex-treasurer’s statement about town manager candidate
It’ll cost the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer $320,000 to settle litigation stemming from statements former Treasurer Dale Folwell made in 2022 about a Spring Lake town manager candidate.
That consists of three payments of just over $106,600 for alleged lost wages, “non-economic injury” and attorneys’ fees, according to the settlement agreement obtained by The News & Observer.
The then-financially troubled town — which was under state control — offered the job to Justine Jones before Folwell released a statement about her employment history in 2022.
He said “new and unsettling information has come to light about” Jones that didn’t “generate confidence” she was the right choice for the job. And a state commission led by Folwell blocked funding for the town to hire her.
Jones’ offer was rescinded and, despite trying to find other options, the “publicity created by the State Treasurer’s comments negatively impacted her ability to find comparable work,” an August 2025 lawsuit she filed against Folwell and the treasurer’s office alleges.
Folwell’s attorneys directed The N&O to the state’s press release about the settlement when reached for comment. Folwell did not respond to a reporter’s call and text on Monday afternoon.
While neither party is admitting to fault, the Friday afternoon press release from the treasurer’s office did seek to clarify the meaning of its 2022 actions.
Withholding the funds to bring Jones to Spring Lake wasn’t suggesting that she “acted improperly with respect to any legal action she may have taken in the past or to opine on her qualifications to serve in other public administration roles,” the release says.
Highlighting Jones’ “legal action” may have been a nod to the since-removed 2022 statement made by Folwell.
‘False, misleading and derogatory’
Just days after the Spring Lake Board of Aldermen voted 3-2 to hire Jones, Folwell released a statement highlighting her past work. That included in Kenly, N.C., and in Richland County, S.C., The N&O reported.
In Kenly, Jones was removed from her position for allegations of creating a “toxic” work environment, according to several police officers and two town officials. An investigation into the claims by the town’s elected officials and attorney found no evidence of that, The N&O reported.
Folwell’s statement also cited a 2017 article, first published by Quorum, laying out the details of an equal employment complaint Jones, who is Black, made against the South Carolina county she formerly worked in.
In it, reporter Ron Aiken — who founded the news operation — wrote that a Richland County councilmember “illegally interfered” in county business on behalf of Jones, “blatantly playing the race card to ensure Jones received benefits above and beyond” other employees.
Jones’ attorneys wrote in the lawsuit the article was an opinion piece “which contained numerous false, misleading and derogatory statements” and “included racially charged language.”
A vacant position
Jones wouldn’t have had a job to apply for if it wasn’t for a saga of events that landed Spring Lake in financial distress.
State auditors found Gay Cameron Tucker, Spring Lake’s former financial director, used hundreds of thousands of dollars in town money for herself between 2016 and 2021, The N&O has reported.
That includes sometimes depositing the town’s money into her own bank account or using it to pay rent at a senior center where her husband lived. Tucker pleaded guilty to embezzlement in 2022.
A state audit of the town’s finances found missing money and a lack of oversight of other employees’ spending.
